The calm didn't last long.
They emerged into a cavern of obsidian crystal, each shard reflecting a distorted version of themselves. At the center stood a massive figure—armored in jagged corruption, a guardian forged from the Abyss itself.
[Zone Event: Abyssal Guardian Detected]
[Special Rule: Exploit Resistance Active]
Arin's stomach sank. "Exploit Resistance? You've got to be kidding me."
The guardian moved, each step shaking the cavern. It carried a massive blade that dripped with glitch energy, slicing through reality like paper.
Arin launched Glitch Bind instinctively. The chains of code wrapped around the guardian—then shattered instantly.
The system flashed:
[Exploit Nullified.]
The guardian's blade swung, forcing Arin to roll aside. The impact cracked the cavern floor.
Lyra leapt forward, corrupted arm lashing out like a spear. It pierced the guardian's armor slightly, but the wound closed in seconds.
"This thing… it's built to counter us," she said grimly.
Arin's mind raced. If his exploits couldn't restrain it, what could? He tried Pause Function, Gravity Anchor, even Reality Lock. Every single one was resisted or weakened.
His stability dropped again.
[Exploit Stability: 19%]
He staggered, panic rising. "Nothing's working…"
Lyra grabbed his arm, forcing him to focus. Her silver eyes burned with defiance. "Then don't use the Abyss against it. Use yourself."
The words struck him. He had been relying on exploits too much, bending the system to his will. But what about his own creativity—his own combat instincts?
He took a deep breath, recalling every glitch, every bug, every fragment of code he had studied as a beta-tester.
Then he saw it—the guardian wasn't immune to damage. It simply rejected direct exploits. But if he layered his abilities creatively, it couldn't nullify everything at once.
"Alright," he muttered. "Let's break the rules again."
The guardian charged. Arin activated Pause Function—but not on the guardian. He froze a falling obsidian shard mid-air, then anchored it with Gravity Anchor.
When the guardian swung, Arin unpaused the shard at the perfect moment, sending it crashing into the guardian's head. The beast staggered.
Lyra seized the opening, driving her corrupted arm deep into its chest. The guardian roared, glitch sparks flying.
Arin followed up with a desperate Code Rewrite, not to bind it—but to destabilize its regeneration loop.
[Exploit Activated: Regen Cancel]
Target: Abyssal Guardian
Effect: Prevents health regeneration temporarily.
The guardian howled in fury, swinging wildly. Arin and Lyra dodged, their movements perfectly synced. Blow after blow, strike after strike, they chipped away at the seemingly invincible enemy.
Finally, with one last coordinated attack—Arin using Gravity Anchor to slam its own blade downward while Lyra pierced its core—the guardian shattered into shards of corrupted light.
[System Message: Abyssal Guardian Defeated.]
[Reward: Exploit Skill – Nullpiercer Acquired.]
Passive: Basic attacks can partially bypass Exploit Resistance.
Active: Temporarily disables enemy exploit immunity (Cooldown: High).
Arin's eyes widened. "A countermeasure… against exploit resistance."
Lyra smiled faintly, exhausted but proud. "Looks like the Abyss just gave you the key to breaking its own rules."
Arin tightened his grip on his weapon. With Nullpiercer, he had a new edge.
But deep inside, he knew: the Abyss wouldn't stop escalating. Each layer was worse than the last.
And if this was the fifth… what horrors waited in the next four?